Τρίτη, 29 Σεπτεμβρίου 2015

Tamas Meszaros, “A typical agent story from the Kadar period

Tamas Meszaros, “A
typical agent story from the Kadar period”, (Remembrance
in time, Transilvania University Press of Brasov 2012), pp. 93-98.

Abstract:The
agent’s task was to observe the Galyasi-, and Bibó circle. This can be
supportedaccording
to the working-file, remaining from the period between April and August of
1968. His activity can not be reconstructed completely due to the narrow
time-interval of the files. As the material is fragmented the historical work
is basically putting together small pieces. Just as the case of “Gáspár Szabó”
shows, we can not get a full picture about the working system of the Political
Police of the socialist state.

After the political turn in 1944/1945 the new,
central state security authority was created from the Political Department of
the Budapest Police Headquarters lead by Gábor Péter. In 1946 the State
Security Department of the State Police (ÁVO) was created with an order of the
Ministry of the Internal Affairs. This was placed under the authority of the
Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1948 and this way a new authority came to
existence. This was the State Security Authority of The Ministry of Internal
Affairs. This authority became „independent” a year later and got out of
control of the Ministry. Its original position was restored after Mátyás
Rákosi’s downfall in 1953. The feared State Security Authority was dissolved by
Imre Nagy on the 28th of October in 1956. The majority of its former members
sought for the protection of the Soviets, while some of them were arrested by
the revolutionists. After the 4th of November the former State Security members
participated in the re-organisation of the police force and of the state
security.

The new structure
of the state security system was formed between 1956 and 1962. The new leader
figures of the communist party created a new state security system as a part of
the police. The reason for this was that they learnt from the big mistake of
Rákosi’s dictatorship. Before 1962 the II/5 Department of the Ministry of
Internal Affairs was responsible for „averting the inner reactionary”. In 1962
the whole department was re-organized. The aim of this re-organisation was
partially to eliminate the remains of the former „total averting”.

The so-called
III/III-4 Department of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs dealt with the
„inner reactionary”2. During the Kádár Regime the state security system was in
control of the party, opposed to the „SDA” which was a state within the state.
This meant that the county police superintendent or his assistant of the State
Security had to inform the first secretary of the county, who forwarded the
information to the responsible organs of the Hungarian Socialist Party and the
main party leaders.

The State Security
employed agents in a great number to be able to control every step of the
society. There were agents who became member of the network on voluntary basis
but there were agents who had been blackmailed before becoming a member.

The agents
provided their reports mostly in written form. The majority of these reports
were destroyed before the change of regime in 1989. In Hódmezıvásárhely,
situated in South-East of Hungary there are plenty of materials of local agents
regarding to the 1960’s. The researches, done in the Historical Archives of the
State Security prove that the “consigners” were interested mainly in the
information about the human-intellectuals and the artists. The temporary
exhibition titled “Detected Arts”3 was organized in 2012 according to the
discovered reports. This is the first possibility, when the visitors of the
museums in Hungary can get a view in the processes of the communist state
security – through the reports about several local artists.

The artists and
writers of Hódmezıvásárhely grouped around two old masters. The political
police identified these people and constantly controlled them. For their
control they organized agents that belonged to the circle of friends around the
masters. Agents appearing in our exhibition called ‘Detected Art’

„Gáspár Szabó”He
mainly wrote his reports about young and independent intellectuals, and the
members of the Galyasi- and Bibó circle. Miklós Galyasi had been the founder
and first director of the Tornyai János Museum and Lajos Bibó was a wellknown
playwright before 1944. A glimpse at a civilian’s biography of Vásárhely Gyızı
Moldvay (Hódmezıvásárhely, 12th June 1925. – Hatvan, 4th August 1996)

He was a poet,
journalist and editor. He maturated at Gábor Bethlen High School in 1944. He
published his writings in two local papers, in ‘Vásárhely Népe’ and the
‘Vásárhelyi Független Újság’ between 1944 and 1951. He got his degree at
Teachers’ Training College of Szeged in 1957. He became the director of the
Petıfi Community Centre between 1952 and 1954, and later he was the editor of
the ‘Vásárhelyi Szó’, a local journal between 1955 for 1956.

Between 28th of
October and the 14th of November in 1956 he was the editor of ‘Vásárhelyi
Nemzeti Újság’ (National Newspaper of Hódmezıvásárhely), the official newspaper
of the revolutionists. Due to his activity during the revolution he was
interned on the 17th of December, 1956, but instead of starting a legal
procedure against him he became free by the end of the year.His early arrestment can seem interesting,
because Dr. Dezsı Kertész – the leader of the local Revolutionary Army Committee
was arrested “only” on the 7th of January, 1957, while Imre Gyáni – the
president of the National Committee – was seized even later, on the 31st of
January, 1957.

The question may
rise: how was it possible, that Moldvay was seized earlier, than the other two
people, who had had a more important role in the revolution; and how could he
get off the trouble without any retaliation due to his activity as an editor.
Dr. Kertész was sentenced to 7 years, and Imre Gyáni to 6 years imprisonment.
Even more – Moldvay was not only let out from the internment camp, but he could
even finish his studies at the college in 1957! To find the answer to the above
question, the related documents of the state security should be examined. The
file no. 64 - so his personal file could be found during the researches at the
Historical Archives of the State Security. From this document it was discovered
that Moldvay was recruited by the political police of Kádár with the code name
“Gáspár Szabó” on the 30th of December, 1956.

From the above data it can be seen, that the
first three files after his recruitment have disappeared. The first file was
opened in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County – situated in the north-east of Hungary,
and however, that file disappeared, supposedly, the reports of that file also
contained the name of the revolutionists in Hódmezıvásárhely.

His
later life He became the
director of a community centre in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County in1961 (up to 1964). Furthermore, he
worked for the only radio station in Miskolc. Hereturned to Hódmezıvásárhely in 1965 and worked as a teacher till
1970. Later he movedto Heves County
in 1971 and he settled down in Hatvan. He founded the Hatvan Galleryin 1972 and he was its director till
the end of his life.After his
recruitment in 1956 Moldvay – according to the instruction of the statesecurity officer, dealing with his
activity – made his environment believe, that he was aridden person5 because of his 1956 past, and he was pushed to the
periphery of the societyby the
communist power. Those who were punished after the revolution and those artists
and intellectuals whowere against
the official trends which were determined by the government, could easilytrust in him.

We can appreciate
the work of Gáspár Szabó on the basis of the remaining Csongrádcounty file6.
The documents, included in the file were issued between the 18th of April, 1966
and the 29th of August, 1968. According to the reports it can be stated that by
this period he became a professional agent – which is not a surprise, as he had
been employed by the power for ten years. His agent-responsible was István
Molnár who was a major and then a lieutenant-colonel of the Csongrád County
Political Detective Department. One of the target persons of his reports was
Miklós Galyasi, the museum director before 1956, who was defined as an
especially dangerous person.

He was sentenced
to a 1,5-year imprisonment, because of his article – a total innocent one –
published in 1956, at the time of the Hungarian revolution. After his release
he led a sequestered life in Hódmezıvásárhely. He was visited by young
intellectuals and artists who wanted to find an authentic

master. He was observed by several agents by the
end of his life. Another target person was Lajos Bibó, a journalist, editor,
and in the period between the two world wars he was also a celebrated
playwright in Budapest. When after 1945 the communists asked him to write plays
and novels in a left-wing tone, he didn’t do that.

Due to his
decision his career as a playwright broke, and he had to retreat to Hódmezıvásárhely
and lived of manual work. Despite his neglect a group of the local
intellectuals highly respected him and regularly visited him. He was observed
by several agents just as Galyasi. The other young target persons were
approached by Gáspár Szabó through Galyasi and Bibó, about whom he regularly
made his reports. His agent-responsible also urged him to build further
relationships with new persons, as the State Security planned to have a
throughout information about the circle of Galyasi and Bibó. Gáspár Szabó wrote
aboutseveral
artist-painters, like Csaba Fejér, József Fodor, Zoltán Füstös, József Németh, Péter
Erdıs, István Kurucz D., Ferenc Hézsı and István Lelkes. In several of his
reports he wrote about Violetta Ferrari – an actress-celebrity of the period
before 1956. She immigrated to West-Germany and became a famous actress there.
He also gave information about two young local writers: Tibor Szenti and Ferenc
Vincze.

Along Bibó and
Galyasi Csaba Fejér was one of the most important target persons, he was a
painter, the member of the second generation of the Artistic School of
Vásárhely. He introduced with his works the rural and agricultural world which
was sentenced to death by the government. The agents of the Ministry of
Internal Affairs defined him as dangerous because of his riot personality. He
did not get a state award from the government. Several agents were responsible
for observing him. His way of thinking is definitely represented in the quote
from a report of Gáspár Szabó about him, dated on the 3rd of May, 1967.

“The members of the State Security just can not
believe, they just can not resign themselves, that the painters of
Hódmezıvásárhely are not organizing anything against them. They don’t want to
do a counter-revolution. The reason for that is, that this is their obsession –
said Csaba Fejér. They are seeking something that doesn’t exist. They are
afraid of being retired if they can not find a conspiracy.”7 According to the
above quote Csaba Fejér knew about the observation of the local artists, and he
thought, that it was pointless. The surviving members of the Galyasi – or Bibó
circle all stated in the interviews made with them8 that they didn’t plan to
defeat the system, because it wouldn’t be realistic, after the pull down of the
revolution of 1956. This statement is also supportedby the reports of the circle around Bibó and
Galyasi, made by other agents. The members were connected by their common
intent to represent their own ways in their art. For this purpose they wanted
to find the instruction of authentic masters, and the friendship of similar
artists. For the power they became suspicious, because they didn’t follow the
socialist-realistic style, imported from Moscow. The artists of Vásárhely
insisted on their freedom in their art, however, they could see the limits, so
they didn’t do anything against the system, being aware of the danger of such
actions.

Methods of agent
reporting It was an important part of the activity of Gáspár Szabó that he
appeared on different events and he wrote reports about them. He got a certain
task from his agent-responsible when he travelled abroad ( e.g.: Austria…etc).
The source of the most interesting information and date were the different
meetings with friends, where he was not only a participant, but he also
organized and hosted such events and gatherings.9

The maniac writer
and intellectual Moldvay was the editor of several journals; he published a
monograph and three books of poems. His reports are readable and interesting.
He characterized his target persons ( friends acquaintances) in a sophisticated
way. He wrote about the artists’ and writers’ opinion and statements as a real
expert. He wrote more than 2000 pages between 1956 and 1968 (Two of his six
files has survived and they are 335 and 422 pages long10).

In 1968 his
agent-responsible recommended his exclusion, because of an incident in Novi-Sad.
After his exclusion his file in Csongrád County was closed. However, from the
4th of January, 1974 he was employed by the Political Department of the Heves
County Police, because in the meanwhile he moved there. He got his new
code-name, “István Boldog” at this time, and we do not have any data concerning
his working file from this period. After a while he became a secret
commissioner instead of being an agent, but we do not have a certain date of
his leaving the network.

Notes: 1 Emlekpont Museum, Hódmezıvásárhely, Hungary.

2 Gábor Tabajdi-Krisztián Ungváry: The Withheld
Past – The Party State and the Internal Affairs, Corvina, 2008. 46-49th pp.

3 Web: www.megfigyelt.hu (18th of September,
2012)

5 This „legend” still worked after the
transition. In the Vásárhely Encyclopaedia it was written that “After his short
imprisonment he had to escape from his hometown.” Encyclopaedia of
Hódmezıvásárhely. Bába Kiadó, Szeged, 2002. 123rd page. 6 ÁBTL 3.1.2 M-29097
„Gáspár Szabó”.